No retirement for Frank Trigg, booked for Nov. 9 fight in Israel

Trigg (19-8), who hinted at a possible retirement following his February release from the UFC, has booked a Nov. 9 fight in Israel, the 38-year-old today announced.

The former top UFC contender fights Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Roy Neeman (1-0) at an International Fighting Championship event in Tel Aviv.

The fight takes place at a catchweight of 180.4 pounds (82 kg).

Trigg, a former University of Oklahoma wrestler and PRIDE veteran, returned to the UFC for the first time in four years and suffered a TKO loss to Josh Koscheck in September 2009. With that loss and a subsequent first-round stoppage defeat to Matt Serra, UFC officials elected to cut Trigg from its welterweight roster earlier this year. At the time, he told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) he was unsure if he’d continue fighting.

Following that first UFC stint that ran from 2003 to 2005, which included a pair of title losses to then-champ Matt Hughes, Trigg fought for organizations such as Strikeforce, World Victory Road, HDNet Fights and ICON Sport, where he defeated Jason “Mayhem” Miller for the organization’s middleweight title.

Recently, the Las Vegas-based Xtreme Couture fighter has been an HDNet Fights commentator for a variety of organizations, including DREAM, World Victory Road and the MFC.

His opponent, Neeman, is one of Israel’s most accomplished jiu-jitsu competitors, and he’s won a variety of grappling titles throughout the world.

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

The man known for cranking submissions to the point of injury added eye-gouging to his repertoire. But is the controversy of Rousimar Palhares too essential to his bizarre, awful appeal for his employers to take any meaningful action against him?